A Civil War Biography

Robert Byington Mitchell

Mitchell was born 4 April 1823 in Mansfield, Ohio. He studied law in
Mount Vernon, Ohio then established a practice in Mansfield before
heading off to fight in the war with Mexico as a 2nd lieutenant in
the 2nd Ohio Volunteers. He returned to his law practice after the
war with Mexico and in 1855 began a political career when he was
elected mayor of Mount Gilead, Ohio. The following year he moved to
Linn County in the Kansas Territory where, although a Democrat, he
supported Kansas as a free state. He served in the territorial
legislature from 1857 until 1858 and was a delegate to the
Leavenworth convention. He served as treasurer of the territory from
1859 until 1861. He also represented Kansas at the 1860 Democratic
National Convention in Charleston.

When the war erupted Mitchell was commissioned colonel of the 2nd
Kansas Volunteer infantry. He was badly wounded at the 10 August
1861 battle of Wilson's Creek where he was shot from his horse while
leading his regiment. After a lengthy recovery period he returned to
duty, having been appointed brigadier general to rank from 8 April
1862 by Abraham Lincoln, in command of a mixed brigade at Fort
Riley, Kansas. He commanded the 9th division in Charles C. Gilbert's
III Corps at Perryville, Kentucky. Mitchell was then sent to
Nashville, Tennessee where he remained for several months. During
the Chickamauga campaign he served as George H. Thomas's Army of the
Cumberland's Chief of Cavalry. Just before the battle of
Chattanooga, Tennessee Mitchell was ordered to Washington DC for
court martial duty. Some sources claim this was due to severe wounds
which incapacitated him from field duty but this is contradicted in
the Official Records by Mitchell's own correspondence. Whether
incapacitated or not, he would not see active campaigning again. For
the remainder of the war he commanded the District of Nebraska, then
the District of North Kansas, and finally the District of Kansas.

Mitchell was honorably mustered out of the army on 15 January 1866,
the same day the US Senate confirmed his nomination as governor of
New Mexico Territory. He took the oath of office on 6 June 1866 but
he never appeared to take his duties seriously. He often was absent
from Santa Fe, the territorial capital, without explanation forcing
the legislature to forward bills it had passed to Washington DC for
approval of the US Congress. Mitchell resigned as governor in 1869
and returned to Kansas. He unsuccessfully ran to represent Kansas in
the US Congress in 1872. He then moved to Washington, DC where he
died on 26 January 1882.